What It's Worth
by Hikari-san42
Summary: Sonic has always been the hero. He knows that it has its downsides - as numerous as they are - but he also feels that there's something more. All he has to do is find out what. /Character study/


_What It's Worth_

_By: Hikari-san42_

_Rating: K+_

_Pairings: None_

_Warnings: Another character study, so not much dialogue. Implied almost rape and violence at the end. _

_Notes: This one had no planning whatsoever. I just wanted to write something and this came out. I love it to little pieces. Written while I was listening to Ke$ha of all things. Perfect mood music for some reason. _

o0o

"Hey look! It's Sonic the Hedgehog!"

Everyone within hearing distance froze, old and young alike. Heads of multiple colors, styles, and species whipped towards the owner of the voice, following the girl's pointed finger, eyes alighting at the bright blue form. Girls screamed, young boys jumped up and down, clutching various action figures to small chests, old folks shrugged, teenage girls swarmed. The blue form turned quickly on a heel and sped walked away, staying only perilous feet in front of the mob of shrieking females.

The assumed Sonic turned a corner, his fanbase following him towards the middle of the CityZone, away from the few remaining – sane – souls.

A bulky figure in a tan trench coat reached a gloved hand up and yanked a baseball cap lower over emerald colored eyes, a cobalt brow disappearing under the fabric. A tan muzzle smirked, black nose twitching at every smell. Red and white sneakers were barely visible as the form ambled in the opposite direction of the crowd of people, towards the outskirts of the Zone.

_People are so gullible._ He thought to himself, pulling his coat tighter around himself, letting the outline of something sharp on his back show. _They see something blue and spiky and it's immediately 'Hey! It's Sonic!' time._

The inhabitants of the Zone _thought_ they were following Sonic through the city. They were too enthralled at being so close to a living legend that they never questioned why the blue one didn't just _run_ away, or why he never stopped to give a few autographs or pictures – like he usually did. Too interested to notice that the style of shoes was wrong, and the shape of the quills was different.

Or to notice that the real Sonic had been among them for half the day.

Sonic the Hedgehog, hero of Mobius, was on a mission. He was on his bi-annual check of Mobius. He was touring the planet, in disguise, to check for any rumblings of Robotnik or his allies, or just to squash any local issues that any of the Zones or cities may have been experiencing. So far, his trip had been boring, nothing popping up, but he had only visited two Islands so far. South Island had yielded nothing but a pure bastardization of Sonic's good name and reputation. The whole Island had cashed in on the fact that he had grown up there and that it was the place where Robotnik first attacked. Green Hill was the worst, having daily tours of his many childhood hang outs and other such nonsense. Scrap Brain was a close second; having cleaned up after Eggman was chased out, a full sized _theme park_ based off Sonic and his adventures was built there. To say he was disgusted would have been an understatement.

Tails had accompanied him through South Island, making it harder to stay hidden, but they had managed. The fox was nearly unrecognizable when he wore his new vest and newly bought prescription glasses. The kid's eyes weren't that bad, but they were fuzzy enough to warrant him specs while he was reading and goggles while he was flying planes. Their trip was short and quick, ending with a short parting of the brothers at the Scrap Brain dock. Tails felt no need to head to Westside Island – too many bad memories – and he took off to check out Angel Island before going back to Station Square and cutting across to the Workshop in Mystic Ruins. He had a project to work on while Sonic was gone.

So, here Sonic was now, walking through Metropolis Zone, almost done with the Island. The previous Zones hadn't yielded anything special, though he did run into some of Tails' old "friends" in Emerald Hill. It had taken all of his self restraint to keep from punching their lights out.

Sonic sighed to himself, shuffling forward and keeping his head low as the sun sank slowly behind the horizon. Seemed like there was nothing going on here, if the silence of the evening was anything to go on. He was starting to get jaded at the monotony of this trip, and it seemed a little unneeded to him now that he had _walked_ – not ran – through thirteen Zones and nothing had cropped up, but he knew he owed to the whole of Mobius. It was his job to keep everyone safe after all.

_Not that they've done anything for _me. He thought selfishly to himself, crossing his arms as he walked. Around him, the buildings got thinner and the frequency of people lowered with each step. _Everywhere I go, it's 'Oh, Sonic! Save my cat! It's up in that tree!' or 'Can I have you babies?' or the ever popular "Why are your eyes _green_?'_

All Sonic received from the people of Mobius was grief, he realized, face settling into an angry expression. They were never really thankful for what he did. Just always asking for more. They didn't stop to think about what a risk he was putting himself, Tails, Amy, or any of his friends in when they took on Robotnik. They never appreciated him beyond face value.

'_Oh, it's Sonic! It's what he does!_' They probably think to themselves before they go home to their spouses and warm homes, hug their children before they go to sleep, and take for granted what they have. Here he was, struggling from a parentless childhood to adolescence without the promise of shelter. At the age of ten, he was raising a child half his age on foraged food and the hope that the night air would be warm. He had struggled to provide his young charge with the proper nutrients to the point that he himself had become nearly a skin and bone sack of blue fur. His growth had been stunted to the point that it wasn't promised that he would get past three and a half feet. Tails himself was growing slowly, physically, and Sonic was worried that he hadn't gotten the proper nutrition during those pivotal years. The fox had depended on him – was _still _depending on him – but he may have already failed.

He couldn't get a job, because fighting Robotnik was a 24 hour affair. Not that he could get any peace in any type of work establishment. Once the papers caught wind of him working in the local fast food joint, the people wanting to just _see_ him would outweigh the people wanting food. But, did this stop the government from taxing him and Tails into an inch of their lives? Nope, never. The workshop was built solely by Tails and Sonic themselves, so there weren't any payments on it, but they were still forced to pay the government for letting them live in it.

Did it matter that he had saved them all more times than he could count? Of course not. Did it matter that he was an underage teenager raising a child on his own? Nope. He had to pay taxes like everyone else. Because it was _fair_.

Everywhere he went he was swarmed. He had to constantly send Tails to get groceries from Station Square, because the fox had the uncanny ability to avoid all crowds and rabid fans. He couldn't leave the Workshop without the explicit reason to kick egg-butt or else get attacked by fans or haters. It was getting a little ridiculous and he was starting to get a little depressed because he couldn't do what he loved anymore.

_Running_.

How he loved it. When he was young, and running was just for fun and not a gimmick or a way of life, he had simply _survived _just for the chance to run along the loops in Green Hill. Mighty – his best friend at the time – had simply shaken his head at him, smiling all the same.

Running was a drug, addictive and fun, and yet not a drug. It was healthy, accepted, and most of all _freeing_. He never felt freer than when he was running. Nothing could touch him. Nothing could stop him. Nothing could _catch_ him. Running was his purest form of therapy, releasing and stress relieving. He always let out cries of joy as he cracked through the sound barrier, memories of his childhood springing into existence. He felt as if he could truly _think_ while he was running. There was nothing else clouding his life. Politics were forgotten, Robotnik was out of mind, Tails was at home, tinkering and gone for that moment in time.

Life was simpler when he was able to run away from his troubles. He would always double back and deal with those same problems, of course, but it was from a new side, a new perspective.

Now though, he couldn't leave his _house_ without being ambushed by tourists and devotees. His life was taken up by being chased by more than Amy, asked questions by more than Tails, and challenged to more fights than with Shadow. Sometimes, he was tempted to just go live with Knuckles – as unappealing as that sounded. It was quiet on Angel Island, and, most importantly, he could run all he wanted.

Mobians were selfish bunch, he thought to himself, and they took for granted what was given to them. He didn't consider himself a 'gift' to the entire Mobian race, but he sometimes wished they treated him like one. He was struggling to keep hold of his sanity and his property. Tails was pulling all of the weight income wise, and it bothered the hedgehog slightly that his eight year old charge was holding more footing in their landholdings than he was.

In fact-

Sonic was pulled out of his thoughts as a scream echoed around a corner and crashed into his skull. His head whipped around, ears at high alert and eyes wide and calculating. All feelings about what he had just been thinking about were gone as he took in his surroundings. He was forced into action when the scream came again, before it was cut off abruptly. His fur raised along his spine, instincts kicking him, making his heart pump adrenaline into his blood stream. His mind sped up, calculating angles of trajectory, relative building height, and the speed, direction, and force of the wind.

He was in the middle of the bad side of town. The third ward, the ghetto, whatever you wanted to call it, it was a bad place to be if you couldn't take care of yourself at this time of the night. The buildings were deteriorating, the streetlights flickering and almost dead, graffiti covering almost every wall. All was silent for a few moments, but then the sound of a struggle was heard, almost inaudible. Sharp hedgehog ears swiveled, pinpointing exactly where the sound was coming from, factoring angles of reflection.

He was off, feet hitting the ground swiftly. His coat and hat were flung off behind him, fluttering slowly to the ground, but he was gone before gravity could even grab hold.

He spun around a corner, sure of his footing on the cracked sidewalk. Ahead of him, only darkness met his eyes but he never slowed. He plunged into the black, never considering that he could slam into a wall any second. His eyes adjusted quickly and he blinked as he ran, staring into the gloom. Trash bags and dumpsters jumped out of nowhere, attempting to trip him. He quickstepped around everything in his way, blasting through without a sound.

He left the darkness almost as abruptly as he had entered it. A light pole allowed a small circle of light and he grabbed onto it, swinging around, his momentum taking him up. When he reached the top, he planted his feet, jumping off the bulb casing strongly. His hands scrabbled onto the edge of a taller building, pulling himself up swiftly. Seconds later he was running again, kicking up dust. He launched himself off the building, curling into a spindash and turning his gravitational energy into rotational. He landed still in his spin and shot forward without resistance.

His shortcut across the building had saved him a few blocks and about ten seconds time. He came out of his spin sprinting, not the least bit dizzy. He grabbed another of the light poles to help as a pivot point around a corner. Once around, his eyes caught sight of where exactly the scream had come from.

A woman was surrounded by a group of thugs. Her clothes were blackened, her white fur not so white anymore. There were tears streaming down her face and she was close to hyperventilating. One of the men reached forward as if to cup her face.

He didn't get that far.

Sonic bounced off his back, digging his feet into his shoulder blades and slamming down harshly in front of the woman, cracking the sidewalk in the process. The man landed on his stomach, the air knocked out of him but still able to groan. His friends stared at him in shock before whipping their heads – one by one – towards Sonic. All gaped at him, attempting to take in his appearance.

The woman, a rabbit by the looks of it, scurried backward, almost as shocked at his appearance as the males were. She didn't get very far though, because her back hit the brick wall behind her. She froze, eyes widened as she took in her new situation.

"Good evening gentlemen." Sonic spit out the words, showing just _gentlemanly_ he thought they were being. "Might I enquire as to what you were doing with this lovely young lady?" Sharp hedgehog teeth were flashed, sending a chill up the spines of what appeared to be all descendants of predators.

"Wh-what?" The leader seemed to be back on his feet, face twisted in pain. "We saw you go the other way earlier!"

Sonic growled low in his throat, annoyed that his questions hadn't been answered. "Wasn't me. Shadow fell in a vat of blue paint. Can't help it that you people are blind as bats." In reality, Sonic had traded Shadow one of the Chaos Emeralds for the black hedgehog's help. If he distracted the townspeople from his appearance in town, Sonic would give him one of the Emeralds, no matter how much he didn't want to.

The man was silent after that, gulping at the answer and starting to edge back a little.

"Ah ah." Sonic tutted, waving a finger in the air. "Don't you know it's rude not to answer a question?" Silence met this statement, and Sonic sighed to himself, crossing his arms. "Okay, here's the deal. You can either stand still while I incapacitate you and get the police or…" He trailed off, pausing for a few beats. "Actually, that's the only option."

_This_ got a rise out of the men. Every single one of them could see their lives slipping their fingers. A lifetime of prison hung over their heads, and each one felt a thick anger suddenly flare up. As once, they launched themselves onto the hedgehog.

Sonic, who had been expecting this reaction, jumped into the air, grabbing the woman's hand at the last second. They both flew into the air, avoiding the other males by inches. Their uncontrollable momentum took them straight into the brick wall. All were out cold almost immediately.

_Easy_… Sonic thought to himself as he landed with the rabbit in his arms. He eased her to the ground and she fell to her knees in front of him.

"Thank you! Thank you!" She seemed to have gotten over her earlier apprehension and now only gratitude showed on her features. She took his hands, shaking them uncontrollably. "How can I ever thank you?"

Suddenly, Sonic _understood_. This was why he did what he did. He enjoyed knowing that he made a difference in this woman's life. That she could live on knowing that she was safe. He would always be there to care for the helpless. She could go on and have children, and know that they're lives were protected. Maybe not by _him_ specifically, but also by the police force in Metropolis, and every other good-doing citizen that lived around her. He realized that he was a sign of hope, of life, and of freedom.

He was Sonic the Hedgehog, protector of the weak. And he wouldn't have it any other way.

o0o

_Please review? I might just expand this if I get enough interest and some type of spark. _


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